Mary Todd Lincoln: Was She Insane?

Mary Todd Lincoln, married to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president. Her life was filled with great triumphs and great tragedy. She was first lady during the civil war and neither the southerners nor the northerners accepted anything she did. Her husband's assassination in 1865 shattered her and eventually she outlived her children as well. She struggled with mental illnesses.

Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Born in Springfield, Illinois, United States, he was one of two of Lincoln's four sons to live to adulthood. He & his father lacked the strong bond his father had with brothers Willie and Tad, but Robert deeply admired his father and wept openly at his deathbed.

The Edwards' home in Springfield where the Lincolns were married. MARRIED - In this city on the 4th instant, at the residence of N.W. Edwards, Esq., by Rev. C. Dresser, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Esq., to Miss MARY TODD, daughter of Robert Todd, Esq., of Lexington, Ky. Announcement on page 3 of the Sangamo Journal, November 11, 1842 (published on Fridays).

Emily Todd was Mary Todd Lincoln's half-sister. In 1856 she married Benjamin Helm, a Confederate general. After Helm's death in 1863 Emily Helm passed through Union Lines to visit her sister in the White House. This caused great consternation in the Northern newspapers. Emily Helm took an oath of loyalty to the Union and was granted amnesty